SPRING 2007 LINCOLNSHIRE CRAWL

The day started bright and sunny, the forecast was good, it was an auspicious day for a crawl, gathering up my camera, a new 2gb memory card, a flask and some sarnies, it’s off we go. First stop 300 yards further on, my local church, Holy Trinity in Orton Longueville looked so good this morning, with that fine early sun that I just had to rattle off a couple of shots, just to get my shooting finger into action. After a couple more brief stops to re-shoot exteriors of Maxey and West Deeping I arrived at my first planned stop, Uffington, St Michael and All Angels, on the main Stamford to Spalding A16. Externally all decorated and perpendicular, internally fine early 13th C round arches. North and south chapels off the chancel which features some fine monuments, a pleasing place to relax in. It was open with a guidebook available.

  Uffington lies close to the Soke of Peterborough border, so we head north deeper into Lincolnshire. Barholm St Martin is next. This is a step back in time from Uffington. Blocked Saxon doorway next to the porch, two fine Norman doorways, the south one full of zigzag carving, including the tympanum, the north one plain and now blocked. I found the keyholder in his garden and soon I was inside. Short three bay 12th C north arcade, Norman font, quite odd and restored chancel (1855 BoE).

  Next on the list is St Thomas a Becket at Greatford, a mainly EE church, notable locally for the monument to the Rev. Francis Willis, who cured the first madness of King George III. This is all detailed in the inscription. The church is kept open. Heavily restored in 1854, I found it sadly lacked character compared to the first two churches visited.

  Following the map Wilsthorpe St Faith is next. The old church was pulled down in 1715 and a new one built just to the east. It’s Georgian origins can be clearly seen despite the Victorian’s best efforts to remove them. The west front is pure Georgian still with a broken segmental pediment to the west main door. It was open and appears to be kept so. I enjoyed this one because of it’s diversity. Internally there is a very slim font and a handful of 19th C monuments on the walls.

  Just down the road a couple of miles and I arrive at Braceborough St Margarets, This church has had a varied life. Internally (it was open) looking back from the chancel you can see on the west wall the blocked arches springing out from the tower where the aisles were, these were taken out in the 18th C and the nave was widened without new aisles. The chancel is now a very short polygonal affair of 1859. There are commandment boards in the chancel, according to the BoE they were metal, painted to look like stone, a wrap with the knuckles confirmed this.

  After a batch of quite minor churches it was time to do a ‘biggie’ so my camera and I take on the splendours of St Michaels at Edenham, home to the monuments of the Dukes of Ancaster from nearby Grimsthorpe Castle. Apart from a couple of rare Saxon roundels high up in the south aisle wall and a pre-Viking sculpture, the church starts off as EE, including the four bay arcades. However the perpendicular is strong in this church, the West tower, porch, clerestories all in this style.

  However what most people come to see is the chancel with it’s fine collection of monuments, the finest in Lincolnshire no less. From the 14th C to the 1860’s every part of the walls bears testament to the piety and wealth of the local patrons, a wonderful collection. My big problem was that they were so large and the chancel quite narrow so getting a good picture really eluded me, I’ll have to return with a DSLR with a fish eye lens. Outside at the east end are further high Victorian tombs with elaborate gothic canopies, fabulous stuff.

Pictured top left, an exterior shot of St Thomas a Becket, Greatford. To the right of that an exterior view of St Margaret's church Braceborough. Below, interior and exterior shots of the exquisite and unusual St Faith's at Wilsthorpe.

Pictured below,the magnicicent church of St Michael at Edenham. Please note, not a cloud in the sky in any of the pictures that Chris took. What a gorgeous Spring Day, and a really beautiful part of South Lincolnshire.